St George’s Greening


The Church Buildings are used by an increasingly growing number of organisations from the surrounding community which places its own demands on the running costs and energy use of the property. During the day there are school groups from adjacent schools using them for curriculum activities, there are Yoga classes, dance classes, 2 choirs, Probus, Callisthenics, a Cycling Club, Concerts, Parties and Family Gatherings and a myriad of other users.
As a Christian community we believe that by better conserving and utilising our precious water and energy resources we are expressing our gratitude to God for the wonders of the world created for all living beings, and our sense of responsibility to do what we can to care for this beautiful world which nourishes life. 

We have tried to reduce our energy and water demands in the following areas:
 
Lighting

External and internal lighting uses high efficiency fluorescent or low voltage globes wherever possible.
The external lights were replaced in 2007 by retro fitting 28 and 13 watt Ecobright T5 lamps  and reducing the power requirement for each large fitting by 2x12w or about 30% overall.  The original lighting was already saving costs by using fluorescent tubes.  The entire building is illuminated using less energy than a 1000w spot or halogen light.

Heating

The inefficient heating system under the pews in the church was replaced a number of years ago with Thorn Halogen heaters, wall mounted which more than halved the running costs of the old system.

Hot Water System

The previous electrical hot water storage system was replaced with a Quantum split system commercial unit which supplies the washrooms and the 3 kitchen facilities in the halls and offices.  This was achieved with a Sustainability grant from the Banyule Council of $2000 and Commonwealth Government Energy Credits of about $5000 leaving the Church to pay about $800

When the new kitchen was built the problem of the loss of water temperature in the 25 meters of pipe between the storage heater and the kitchen was overcome by the installation of a reticulation pump so that hot water is delivered almost immediately at the kitchen taps without loss of water.

Rain Water collection

St George’s applied for and received a Commonwealth Government Grant to fund the harvesting of rainwater from our massive roof area.
The water will be collected in bladders and stored under the church to be used for the toilet systems and garden watering.  The grant received also includes the replacement of outdated toilet pans and flushing systems.
We anticipate that we will be entirely self sufficient for all our watering requirements with the exception of kitchen and hand washing, and save at least 200,000 litres of water a year.

Our future goal is to install solar panels for electricity generation to reduce even further our demand on the power grid and perhaps provide green power into the system.